The Strength of Structure (and How to Train It)
As we discussed in the previous post (see here), all martial movement must be based on a platform of both mobility and stability. Today we will discuss stability. Kamae is much more than just a stance or ready position. It is the platform from which all movements are made and from which all techniques are…
Daily Mobility Practice – The Fountain of Youth
All movement skills, especially martial movement skills, must be built on a foundation of both stability and mobility. Today we will cover mobility. A complete mobility practice moves each joint in the body through its complete range of motion bathing it in synovial fluid. Movement is the only way your joints get nutrition! Many trainers…
The Process of Becoming Masterful
“Remember that mastery is not attained once after a lifetime of practice, but earned every day.” – Jon Haas Usually when we think of someone who is a master, be it a master martial artist or the master of some other craft, we think of them as attaining mastery at the end of a long…
What is Specific Physical Preparation for Martial Arts?
Every once in a while it’s fun to think about how much the exercises we train on a daily and weekly basis actually translate, or carry over, to the activities for which we’re training. Depending on your training program this can either be a great way to confirm that you are moving in the right…
On The Habit of Excellence
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle Lately I have been thinking about the virtue of excellence. This wasn’t always an important virtue to me. When I was younger (and dumber) I believed that I could get by on just being adequate at things…
Breathing for Strength, Vitality, and Performance
For millennia breath control exercises have been the secret weapon of advanced yogis, qigong adepts, master healers, and warrior-monks to forge phenomenal strength, super human body control, and extraordinary vitality. When disciplines such as yoga, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Internal Martial Arts, and Qigong have been successfully used over thousands of years to heal the…
The Downfall of Functional Training & How to Fix It
What Functional Training Has Become… The field of functional training has degenerated into seeing who can perform the most meaningless stunt while looking the coolest (ahem… sometimes). These exploits may look impressive to the uninitiated or easily amused, but they have virtually no carry over and zero application to movement in real life, on the…
What is Fitness?
Fitness is probably one of the most controversial topics bandied about in social media, magazine articles, and by know-it-alls across the planet. Just about every type of training under the broad heading of fitness has its own staunch supporters and sycophants, as well as its haters and rabid detractors. Nothing really has a place of…
The Top 3.5 Reasons Training is Hard
The other day a student said to me during training: “This is hard.” My reply was, “Well of course it’s hard. You don’t come to me to learn how to do things you’re already good at, do you?” But why is this difficult? In my experience,training is hard for approximately 3.5 main reasons… 1. You are…
Fasting, Cold Showers, and Black Coffee
This week I decided to run a little experiment and see how long I could fast. I felt that after all the overeating and indulging of the holidays that my body, especially my digestive system, could use a break. I was inspired by my friend Logan Christopher doing a 5 day fast over New Years.…
Lost Empire Herbs
